Granny’s Helmet

Two things: First, I’m happy to have my blog back, even though I thought I’d lost it, and moved on to create another, new one! Second, I didn’t plan to write about this subject, but it just came up today.

As some of you know I’ve begun a new friendship with a traveling man. Two weeks ago we completed a three-week trip through Texas, and I would say that we handled our “shakedown cruise” pretty well. We are planning to leave in a few days on another trip, this time to California, where my friend will be in a scooter race. After the race, which is around the Salton Sea, he wanted to explore the area, with me possibly seated behind him. In order to do that I would have to find a helmet to wear.

In the last few days I’ve been browsing through Craigslist here and tracking down leads for a reasonably priced, undamaged, used motorcycle helmet. Today I followed through on some of the contacts and managed to make an appointment to meet someone tomorrow who has two. It would be necessary for me to travel to the other end of town, nearly to Marana to see them. But I agreed.

In the meantime, I contacted a seller much closer to my home. This morning I texted him my interest in his posting, and he said I could see it after 3:30 this afternoon. When he asked me where I wanted to meet, I suggested in front of the nearest Fry’s grocery store at 4:00, to which he agreed. I told him I was a short granny with very short, white hair, and I would be waiting out front.

As I needed cash for the transaction I picked up a couple of items, got my money, and went outside to wait, sitting in a rocking chair just outside the store entry. At 4:20 I texted the seller that I had been waiting for 20 minutes and asked if he was coming. He texted me back and said he was sorry, he’d be there in 10 minutes, in a white truck. Within a few minutes I saw a white truck, and then got another text asking where my car was. I responded that I wasn’t in a car, (by that time I was standing outside on the curb.)

I saw the white truck make another circle around the parking lot, and as he pulled by the front entry I waved, and he waved back. He stopped and I went over to speak to him. He said he was sorry…that he didn’t think a granny would be wanting a motorcycle helmet. I told him he just didn’t know what grannies could do! I suggested he pull into a parking spot so we could talk.

So he got parked and I walked over to his truck. He was a nice-looking Hispanic male somewhere in his 40s, I’d say. He said he was so skeptical about the sale because he didn’t trust that a granny would be wanting a helmet, and he thought his son’s friends were playing a prank on him. So funny!!! I told him I felt he was being hesitant throughout our texts. He was just too wary! I told him that I was planning to ride with my friend and I needed a helmet. I said I was a granny not an old woman!

We chatted a short time about how we both live near the high school, and that my friend’s neighbor’s boy plays football for the team and we’d been going to the games. He shared that his son wants to be a doctor and he moved from his mother’s home in New Mexico to establish residency in Arizona so he could take medical courses at the University of Arizona.

I tried the helmet on – a good fit, and when I asked if he would take less than the posted price he lowered it by $10. It was a perfect fit for me both on my head and with my pocket book. Overall, a great ending to my search!